Pandemic IQ drop
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Children born during the coronavirus pandemic have significantly reduced verbal, motor and overall cognitive performance compared with children born before, a US study suggests.
The first few years of a child’s life are critical to their cognitive development. But with Covid-19 triggering the closure of businesses, nurseries, schools and playgrounds, life for infants changed considerably, with parents stressed and stretched as they tried to balance work and childcare.
With limited stimulation at home and less interaction with the world outside, pandemic-era children appear to have scored shockingly low on tests designed to assess cognitive development, said lead study author Sean Deoni, associate professor of paediatrics (research) at Brown University.
In the decade preceding the pandemic, the mean IQ score on standardised tests for children aged between three months and three years of age hovered around 100, but for children born during the pandemic that number tumbled to 78, according to the analysis, which is yet to be peer-reviewed.
“It’s not subtle by any stretch,” said Deoni. “You don’t typically see things like that, outside of major cognitive disorders.”
The study included 672 children from the state of Rhode Island. Of these, 188 were born after July 2020 and 308 were born prior to January 2019, while 176 were born between January 2019 and March 2020. The children included in the study were born full-term, had no developmental disabilities and were mostly white.
Those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds fared worse in the tests, the researchers found.
The biggest reason behind the falling scores is likely the lack of stimulation and interaction at home, said Deoni. “Parents are stressed and frazzled … that interaction the child would normally get has decreased substantially.”
Whether these lower cognitive scores will have a long-term impact is unclear. In the first few years of life, the foundations for cognition are laid, much like building a house – it’s easier to add rooms or flourishes when you’re building the foundation, Deoni said. “The ability to course-correct becomes smaller, the older that child gets.”
Given this data comes from a relatively affluent part of the US, where social support and unemployment benefits are generous, the fear is that things could be worse in poorer parts of the country and the world, he added.
Not peer-reviewed, yet.
ABSTRACT
Since the first reports of novel coronavirus in the 2020, public health organizations have advocated preventative policies to limit virus, including stay-at-home orders that closed businesses, daycares, schools, playgrounds, and limited child learning and typical activities. Fear of infection and possible employment loss has placed stress on parents; while parents who could work from home faced chal- lenges in both working and providing full-time attentive childcare. For pregnant individuals, fear of at- tending prenatal visits also increased maternal stress, anxiety, and depression. Not surprising, there has been concern over how these factors, as well as missed educational opportunities and reduced interaction, stimulation, and creative play with other children might impact child neurodevelopment. Leveraging a large on-going longitudinal study of child neurodevelopment, we examined general childhood cognitive scores in 2020 and 2021 vs. the preceding decade, 2011-2019. We find that chil- dren born during the pandemic have significantly reduced verbal, motor, and overall cognitive perfor- mance compared to children born pre-pandemic. Moreover, we find that males and children in lower socioeconomic families have been most affected. Results highlight that even in the absence of direct SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 illness, the environmental changes associated COVID-19 pan- demic is significantly and negatively affecting infant and child development.
An IQ of 78? Really?
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@george-k said in Pandemic IQ drop:
The study included 672 children from the state of Rhode Island.
Have you been to Rhode Island?
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@doctor-phibes said in Pandemic IQ drop:
Have you been to Rhode Island?
DroveRode through it when I was 16. -
@doctor-phibes said in Pandemic IQ drop:
@george-k said in Pandemic IQ drop:
The study included 672 children from the state of Rhode Island.
Have you been to Rhode Island?
It’s sad but you are correct that NY and other cast offs landed there.
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@george-k said in Pandemic IQ drop:
the mean IQ score on standardised tests for children aged between three months and three years of age hovered around 100, but for children born during the pandemic that number tumbled to 78
More Trump voters
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@copper said in Pandemic IQ drop:
@george-k said in Pandemic IQ drop:
the mean IQ score on standardised tests for children aged between three months and three years of age hovered around 100, but for children born during the pandemic that number tumbled to 78
More Trump voters
It will be another 20 years before those born in the pandemic can vote, the timing doesn't look that promising for Trump.
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@george-k said in Pandemic IQ drop:
@axtremus said in Pandemic IQ drop:
20 years before those born in the pandemic can vote
26th Amendment established the voting age at 18.
So, at most 18 years, at least 17 years.
Trump is easily still going to be President at that point. Just ask him.
